He died on
Sunday the 12th of October, quietly in sleep and at peace with the world,
in London, one of his many homes in the world. A world he dominated
from the time he stepped on stage at behest of the Yuvaraj of Mysore, in
1928, and continued to rule as India’s Nijinsky, until the sixties.

Bissano Ram Gopal was born in Bangalore on 12th November to a Burmese mother and a Rajput father. His parental home - the
Torquay Castle – in Benson town, was a palatial mansion with swimming pool
and tennis courts, befitting the stature of his barrister father but Ram
was not interested in legalities of life but more in the mysteries of movement.

To say he was
a born dancer would be stating the obvious. Ram Gopal was India’s first
truly international-level, classical dancer. In his statuesque body and
poses, Bharatanatyam sat very well, although by his own admission “my left
side is Bharatanatyam and the right side is Kathakali and in my legs lie
Kathak”. He was indeed trained in all three principal styles in vogue then
(Orissi had not even been “discovered” until 1954 or officially established
until 1958).

Trained in
Bharatanatyam by two giants of the time – Guru Meenakshisundaram Pillai
and Guru Kattumanarkoil Muthukumaran Pillai – and in Kathakali by Kunjukurup
and Vallathol Narayanan Menon himself presiding at Kalamandalam. For Kathak,
he was trained by Guru Jailal and Sohanlal. Ram was one of the first to
team up with women dancers like Tara Chaudhri, Shevanti, Mrinalini Sarabhai,
Retna Mohini- Bresson, M K Saroja and later with Kathak dancers like Kumudini
Lakhia. He created travelling dance companies the likes of which the world,
especially Europe, had not seen although he gave credit for his inspiration
to the other light of his times, Uday Shankar, whose example had preceded
Ram’s by a decade.

La Meri, the
American ethnic-dancer “discovered” his true potential and took him on
in 1936 as a dancing partner on his first tour and since then Ram traveled
the world many times over. Polish critic Tadeus Zelinski called him the
“Nijinsky of India” while Cecil B De Mille introduced him to Sol Hurok.
Feted and fawned upon, he was like an Indian god come alive. Ram Gopal’s
magic lasted far beyond his few active dancing years he had. He performed
in some of best-known theatres of the world, including The Grand Theatre,
Opera House in Poland; the Palais du Louvre and Muisee Guimet in Paris,
the Aldwych in London and the Town Hall in Stockholm where the Nobel Prize
Ceremony is conducted.

He also immortalized
himself through two films made on him: “Aum Shiva” and “Ram” by the famous
French filmmaker Lamorisse. David Lean was planning a film based on Ram’s
life and the script and shooting were in progress when Lean died. The last
record of Ram in India is captured on a digital film by Ashish Khokar in
1998.

Ram Gopal leaves
no student of merit but that’s because of my theory (and study) that all
great masters don’t have students, only followers or copycats. The lives
of several masters like Uday Shankar, Ram Gopal, Bala, Sitara Devi, M K
Saroja, Vyjayanthimala, Kamala Laxman and many more (including top musicians)
shows that great performing artistes need not necessarily be great gurus
or teachers. Their art is a gift of the gods, which begins and ends with
them. Ram Gopal is no more but lives on in mind and eye of those who saw
him stride this planet. He was the king of dance – Nataraja indeed!

Till her death
five years ago, French patroness Claude Lamorisse, looked after him. Pamela
Cullen was his support in London during his end years when he lived in
an old-age home. That India did not even bestow a national honour on him
shows what India is about (the Sangeet Natak’s belatedly made him a Fellow
in the late eighties), although the Queen of England gave him an (OBE)
Order of the British Empire, a few years ago. But for this king of the
dance world, the beauty of movement and its manifestation was its own award.
With Ram, a whole era has ended. Hey Ram!

Ashish Mohan
Khokar is the official biographer of Ram Gopal, in addition to having written
over twenty books on arts and culture besides being the editor and publisher
of Attendance - India’s only yearbook on dance. He is also a well-known
critic and columnist (The Times of India, First City, Life Positive) and
a commentator for India Today and Managing Trustee of India’s largest archives
on dance, The Mohan Khokar Dance Collection. He lives in Bangalore presently.